Alswanger said he hopes to see an improvement in communication among board members as well.

"Everyone should be able to express their views and have them listened to. We can't allow personally divisive behaviors, no matter what side of the issue people are on," he said.

Republican John Leydon, Jr., the fourth-highest vote-getter Tuesday, earned the third open seat due to a state minority party representation law.

"I believe the new members add interesting perspectives to the board, and we'll be able to work well with the existing board," Leydon said.

"To me it's clear that if we stay away from the personal, we can intelligently discuss issues, including controversial issues, in an objective fashion, and that always leads to the best results," he said.

Leydon, Alswanger and Rich Lyons -- the second highest vote-getter -- each said middle school reform is high on the list of issues that need to be discussed.

"I don't have a laundry list of tweaks for middle school reform. I'd like to review it and have a collective brainstorming session on it," Lyons said. "I want to hear from the staff, board members and the community. I have no pre-conceived notions of what should or shouldn't be done."

Leydon said he believes there should be more than two academic groups at the middle school level.

"I would like to assess the expansion of the number of groups," he said.

Alswanger said he feels there should be flex-grouping for core subjects to allow movement within the tracking.

"We have to revisit middle school and look at making some tweaks. Not smashing what has been built, but we're going to have to make those tweaks," Alswanger said. He proposes giving teachers more control over grouping children.

"I also think we need to get behind teacher morale issues and really find out what we need to do to make sure the voices of the teachers are being heard," he said.

Alswanger said he wants teachers to feel as though they are a part of the decision-making process, and that they have a place to constructively criticize the district without "being in fear."

Each of the new board members have children enrolled in the school district, and have said they will bring a parent's voice to the table.

"I think the three new members are bringing a perspective that they feel needs to be heard," said Board President Jackie Heftman.

"I think it's important that we have all perspectives on the board, and that we have parents as well as senior citizens that pay taxes and don't have children in the public schools," she said.

Heftman said she is concerned that the transition to the new board will create a shift of perspective and representation.

"I'm very troubled by the fact that we no longer have a minority member on the board when we have a school system with 60 percent black and Hispanic students," she said.

Democrat Robert King is currently the only black member on the board; there are no Hispanic representatives. King had the third-highest vote tally Tuesday, but was not elected due to the minority party representation law.

"That's a huge hole that's going to be left," Heftman said.

Staff Writer Maggie Gordon can be reached at maggie.gordon@scni.com or 203-964-2229.